Saturday, July 13, 2019

Foodie France (Don't Miss These Books!)



A Bite-Sized History of France: Gastronomic Tales of Revolution, War, and Enlightenment is the perfect pairing for Mastering the Art of French Eating: Lessons in Food and Love From a Year in Paris. 

Travel back to the beginning and into present day in A Bite-Sized History of France with the history of France through its foods; this is the definitive book. Every chapter is a close look at a key event in French history along with the foodie consequences/side effects/highlights. It's absolutely fascinating. Of course, there are lots of chapters about wines and liquors, including Bordeaux, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, cognac, champagne ("the devil's wine"), and absinthe ("the curse of the green fairy"), as well as many of France's wonderful cheeses, plus all of France's iconic foods, but there are also intriguing chapters about salt, honey, peanuts, and sugar.

In Mastering the Art of French Eating, Ann Mah has married a diplomat and her life has become a round of moves. And then her husband is posted to Paris, and Mah is living in the city of her dreams. But that ends quickly, and Mah's husband is suddenly reposted to Iraq, and Mah must find a way to focus her days without her husband. She does, writing a novel, taking a job in a library, and writing a blog about French foods. Her research takes her to Brittany where she studies crepes, to Provence where she studies Soup au Pistou, and Burgundy where she studies Boeuf Bourguignon, along with lots of other food adventures. 

If you have any interest in France and/or French foods and drinks, these are a must-reads.





I started Paris in July off with two books of light fiction, and I spent last week reading about foodie France. This week I move to reading two classical French books, Swann's Way by Marcel Proust, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein, and Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit. 



I also plan to take on these beautiful children's books: Children of the World; Solar System; World Atlas Sticker Book; Here and There; and A Place to Stay, all from Barefoot Books.










Take a look at the lists Wendy at Falconer's Library made to celebrate her 50th birthday: Fifty Favorites: My Favorite Book Published Each Year of My Life and Fifty More: My Favorite Book at Each Age I've Been. I love reading these.





I'm a huge fan of Juli at Whimpulsive's The Things I Liked This Week. Her list of things she enjoyed each week always lift my spirits.





We've gone fossil hunting this weekend, up near Mineral Wells and Midlothian, in north Texas. I hope we have good weather and good hunting. 





What did you do last week?

Did you read any good books? Share them with us.

Have you seen anything bookish you'd like to tell us about?

What else is going on in your life?

I invite you to link up here and/or at the Sunday Salon page on Facebook each weekend (Saturday-Sunday-Monday) and let us know what you have been doing. Visit other blogs and join in the conversations going on there.

Other places where you may like to link up are below. Click on the picture to visit the site.


My linkup for Sunday Salon is below. 



37 comments:

  1. Not keen on French food, it's not all they crack it up to be. They are not the worlds best cooks. I must admit I have read very few books by European authors.

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    1. But I could probably live the rest of my life and eat only French food, happily.

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  2. I knew you'd love Mastering the Art of French Eating. The fossil hunting trip sounds fun - I remember going on a field trip to do that way back when.

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    1. You were right, Kathy. A wonderful read for Paris in July.

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  3. Have you read David Downie's Taste of Paris? https://bonjourparis.com/interviews/a-taste-of-paris-interview-david-downie/

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    1. I reviewed the David Downiest book last week — thought it was terrible!
      Link: https://maefood.blogspot.com/2019/07/pretentious-precious-patronizing.html

      best... mae

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  4. Swann's Way is one of those books I want to finish some day. I really enjoyed what I read. I think the whole series is on my bucket list...I did take a list at Wendy's blog post and they inspired me to write my own blog post on the subjects, in a much abbreviated form, although I admire the work she did on hers...hope your weekend is going well with your fossil hunting.

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    1. Swann's Way has so many beautiful details that I feel like I am right in the story. I think I may make madelines when I get to the end.

      Your post is great fun.

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  5. Hi Deb, I’ve read all your selections except the one by Mah. I love them all, and think you will enjoy the ones for the coming week. I found that history to be light and very enjoyable. Happy Bastille Day!

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  6. I may have to take a gander at some of the Children's books you mentioned. My son and I read books according to themes, right now it's monsters:Next it may be Paris?!

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    1. Paris is an excellent theme. I highly recommend Crepes by Suzette. It's a great overview of Paris. It has a recipe you can make, too.

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  7. Adding those first two foodie books to my list.

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  8. Those children’s books look delightful

    Have a great reading week, and enjoy fossil hunting!

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  9. I must check out that book on French foods. Reading (and/or movies) set in France are the closest I will probably come to anything French. Sigh.

    Enjoy your week, and thanks for visiting my blog.

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  10. Who doesn't adore food in France? This looks like a terrific one -- I didn't know about it and all the better for discovering it now!

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  11. Hope you're enjoying the fossil-hunting! I've got both of those foodie titles on my wish list :)

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  12. I've not tried much French food but I do enjoy traveling via eating:)

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  13. A lovely spread of books, Deb. I hope you have a lovely time fossil hunting:).

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  14. The 50 favorite books list sound like an interesting project. I'm coming up on my 50th. I'm not sure I've read a book for every year I've been alive.

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  15. Interesting assortment of books. I like the idea of reading about French food. This is the kind of history I enjoy. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  16. The foodie books look very interesting and I will be keeping an eye out for them!

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  17. I'm getting some real vintage vibe from this post (I love it) XD. Have a great week!

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  18. GREAT post (as usual). I always have fun reading your eclectic topics and interests.

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  19. I'm loving how the conversations following reviews of popular books. I too have Mah's book and quite enjoyed it. However I'm loooking forward to your children books reviews... they're very cute.

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  20. On my holiday, I read about 5 books so my luggage got lighter as the trip progressed. Now I need to review them and get the posts up.

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